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FERENCZI'S PAPER, "CONFUSION OF TONGUES between adults and the child: The language of tenderness and passion, " was published in 1933 (Ferenczi, 1949). In it he reveals his work with analytic patients whom we might characterize today as examples of the "negative therapeutic reaction" (Lane, 1985). He serves as an object lesson of an analyst both good and creative. He used transference to elucidate countertransference, which he then used to validate and to analyze the transference. In this manner he transformed the analytic experience, and raised issues which we are discovering "anew" year in and year out. These topics include the analytic situation and "climate, " the experience of transference and its genetic roots, and aspects of the nature and impact of seduction and trauma in childhood.
I will review and comment upon this classic, and will link Ferenczi's insights with those of others who followed, and who, by and large, gave him precious little credit for antedating their discoveries. I